Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true/
Or is it something worse?

Springsteen’s “The River” explores similar themes as Born to Run: the Blue-Collar struggle to make a living and the lack of social mobility within the working class. It also romanticizes the opportunities for temporary escapes that are rather wholesome. In Born to Run it was riding a motorcycle, in the River it is a trip down to the river with his girlfriend. There is a lot of songs about escape, but often they are songs about drugs or other nefarious methods. In this way, it might be said that Springsteen’s music is rather wholesome.

Bruce Springsteen’s music is often dreary and fatalistic. In Springsteen’s music, there is no escaping factors that are much bigger than you. Whether it is the mob and the necessity to make ends meet (Atlantic City), the weariness of everyday life (Born to Run) or your father’s choices (The River), you aren’t really going anywhere in life, so you better take whatever pleasure you can when the opportunity arises.

The melody and tone of Springsteen’s “The River” match the lyrics well. The song sounds dreary and Springsteen’s sings the part as if he were one of the characters stuck, struggling to survive. It is hard to pull off this type of message when you are a billionaire but somehow it still resonates with his audience. The harmonica solos are particularly good and some of the best in rock music.

The River Lyrics

I come from down in the valley,
Where, mister, when you’re young,
They bring you up to do like your daddy done.
Me and Mary we met in high school,
When she was just seventeen.
We’d ride out of this valley down to where the fields were green.

We’d go down to the river
And into the river we’d dive,
Oh, down to the river we’d ride.

Then I got Mary pregnant,
And man, that was all she wrote.
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat.
We went down to the courthouse,
And the judge put it all to rest.
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle,
No flowers, no wedding dress.

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we’d dive,
Oh, down to the river we did ride.
Ah-yah

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company,
But lately there ain’t been much work on account of the economy.
Now all them things that seemed so important-
Well, mister, they vanished right into the air.
Now I just act like I don’t remember,
And Mary acts like she don’t care.

But I remember us riding in my brother’s car,
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir.
At night on them banks I’d lie awake,
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take.
Now those memories come back to haunt me,
They haunt me like a curse.
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true?
Or is it something worse?

That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry.
That sends me down to the river tonight.
Ah-yah-yah
Down to the river,
My baby and I.
Oh, down to the river we ride.
Ah-yah-ay

written by Bruce Springsteen